/node

Node.js JavaScript runtime :sparkles::turtle::rocket::sparkles:

Primary LanguageJavaScriptOtherNOASSERTION

Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. For more information on using Node.js, see the Node.js Website.

The Node.js project is supported by the Node.js Foundation. Contributions, policies, and releases are managed under an open governance model.

This project is bound by a Code of Conduct.

Table of Contents

Support

Node.js contributors have limited availability to address general support questions. Please make sure you are using a currently-supported version of Node.js.

When looking for support, please first search for your question in these venues:

If you didn't find an answer in one of the venues above, you can:

GitHub issues are meant for tracking enhancements and bugs, not general support.

Remember, libre != gratis; the open source license grants you the freedom to use and modify, but not commitments of other people's time. Please be respectful, and set your expectations accordingly.

Release Types

The Node.js project maintains multiple types of releases:

  • Current: Released from active development branches of this repository, versioned by SemVer and signed by a member of the Release Team. Code for Current releases is organized in this repository by major version number. For example: v4.x. The major version number of Current releases will increment every 6 months allowing for breaking changes to be introduced. This happens in April and October every year. Current release lines beginning in October each year have a maximum support life of 8 months. Current release lines beginning in April each year will convert to LTS (see below) after 6 months and receive further support for 30 months.
  • LTS: Releases that receive Long-term Support, with a focus on stability and security. Every second Current release line (major version) will become an LTS line and receive 18 months of Active LTS support and a further 12 months of Maintenance. LTS release lines are given alphabetically ordered codenames, beginning with v4 Argon. LTS releases are less frequent and will attempt to maintain consistent major and minor version numbers, only incrementing patch version numbers. There are no breaking changes or feature additions, except in some special circumstances.
  • Nightly: Versions of code in this repository on the current Current branch, automatically built every 24-hours where changes exist. Use with caution.

More information can be found in the LTS README.

Download

Binaries, installers, and source tarballs are available at https://nodejs.org.

Current and LTS Releases

Current and LTS releases are available at https://nodejs.org/download/release/, listed under their version strings. The latest directory is an alias for the latest Current release. The latest LTS release from an LTS line is available in the form: latest-codename. For example: https://nodejs.org/download/release/latest-argon.

Nightly Releases

Nightly builds are available at https://nodejs.org/download/nightly/, listed under their version string which includes their date (in UTC time) and the commit SHA at the HEAD of the release.

API Documentation

API documentation is available in each release and nightly directory under docs. https://nodejs.org/api/ points to the API documentation of the latest stable version.

Verifying Binaries

Current, LTS, and Nightly download directories all contain a SHASUMS256.txt file that lists the SHA checksums for each file available for download.

The SHASUMS256.txt can be downloaded using curl.

$ curl -O https://nodejs.org/dist/vx.y.z/SHASUMS256.txt

To check that a downloaded file matches the checksum, run it through sha256sum with a command such as:

$ grep node-vx.y.z.tar.gz SHASUMS256.txt | sha256sum -c -

Current and LTS releases (but not Nightlies) also have the GPG detached signature of SHASUMS256.txt available as SHASUMS256.txt.sig. You can use gpg to verify that SHASUMS256.txt has not been tampered with.

To verify SHASUMS256.txt has not been altered, you will first need to import all of the GPG keys of individuals authorized to create releases. They are listed at the bottom of this README under Release Team. Use a command such as this to import the keys:

$ gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys DD8F2338BAE7501E3DD5AC78C273792F7D83545D

See the bottom of this README for a full script to import active release keys.

Next, download the SHASUMS256.txt.sig for the release:

$ curl -O https://nodejs.org/dist/vx.y.z/SHASUMS256.txt.sig

After downloading the appropriate SHASUMS256.txt and SHASUMS256.txt.sig files, you can then use gpg --verify SHASUMS256.txt.sig SHASUMS256.txt to verify that the file has been signed by an authorized member of the Node.js team.

Once verified, use the SHASUMS256.txt file to get the checksum for the binary verification command above.

Building Node.js

See BUILDING.md for instructions on how to build Node.js from source. The document also contains a list of officially supported platforms.

Security

Security flaws in Node.js should be reported by emailing security@nodejs.org. Please do not disclose security bugs publicly until they have been handled by the security team.

Your email will be acknowledged within 24 hours, and you will receive a more detailed response to your email within 48 hours indicating the next steps in handling your report.

There are no hard and fast rules to determine if a bug is worth reporting as a security issue. The general rule is an issue worth reporting should allow an attacker to compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of the Node.js application or its system for which the attacker does not already have the capability.

To illustrate the point, here are some examples of past issues and what the Security Response Team thinks of them. When in doubt, however, please do send us a report nonetheless.

Public disclosure preferred

  • #14519: Internal domain function can be used to cause segfaults. Causing program termination using either the public JavaScript APIs or the private bindings layer APIs requires the ability to execute arbitrary JavaScript code, which is already the highest level of privilege possible.

  • #12141: buffer: zero fill Buffer(num) by default. The buffer constructor behavior was documented, but found to be prone to mis-use. It has since been changed, but despite much debate, was not considered misuse prone enough to justify fixing in older release lines and breaking our API stability contract.

Private disclosure preferred

  • CVE-2016-7099: Fix invalid wildcard certificate validation check. This is a high severity defect that would allow a malicious TLS server to serve an invalid wildcard certificate for its hostname and be improperly validated by a Node.js client.

  • #5507: Fix a defect that makes the CacheBleed Attack possible. Many, though not all, OpenSSL vulnerabilities in the TLS/SSL protocols also effect Node.js.

  • CVE-2016-2216: Fix defects in HTTP header parsing for requests and responses that can allow response splitting. While the impact of this vulnerability is application and network dependent, it is remotely exploitable in the HTTP protocol.

When in doubt, please do send us a report.

Current Project Team Members

The Node.js project team comprises a group of core collaborators and a sub-group that forms the Technical Steering Committee (TSC) which governs the project. For more information about the governance of the Node.js project, see GOVERNANCE.md.

TSC (Technical Steering Committee)

TSC Emeriti

Collaborators

Collaborator Emeriti

Collaborators follow the COLLABORATOR_GUIDE.md in maintaining the Node.js project.

Release Team

Node.js releases are signed with one of the following GPG keys:

The full set of trusted release keys can be imported by running:

gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 94AE36675C464D64BAFA68DD7434390BDBE9B9C5
gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys FD3A5288F042B6850C66B31F09FE44734EB7990E
gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 71DCFD284A79C3B38668286BC97EC7A07EDE3FC1
gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys DD8F2338BAE7501E3DD5AC78C273792F7D83545D
gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys C4F0DFFF4E8C1A8236409D08E73BC641CC11F4C8
gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys B9AE9905FFD7803F25714661B63B535A4C206CA9
gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 56730D5401028683275BD23C23EFEFE93C4CFFFE
gpg --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 77984A986EBC2AA786BC0F66B01FBB92821C587A

See the section above on Verifying Binaries for details on what to do with these keys to verify that a downloaded file is official.

Previous releases may also have been signed with one of the following GPG keys:

Contributing to Node.js